Severity of impairment in dually addicted gamblers

Abstract

While much information about pathological gamblers has been gathered from clinical observations, few data exist from systematic, objective studies. Furthermore, still less is known about that subset of pathological gamblers who are also chemically dependent and/or substance abusers. Previous studies (e.g., McCormick et al., 1984) report that up to 45% pathological gamblers are substance abusers. The present study hypothesizes that inpatient chemically dependent pathological gamblers will exhibit greater impairment on a variety of life-functioning measures than a comparable group of chemically dependent psychiatric inpatient. Twelve chemically dependent pathological gamblers were matched on the basis of age, sex, alcohol/drug history and occupational status with twelve chemically dependent persons with no pathological gambling history. All study members were inpatients in an addictions program at a private psychiatric hospital. Each patient was administered the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to assess impairment in seven problem areas: medical, employment/support, alcohol, drug, legal, family/social, and psychological/psychiatric functioning. The following findings emerged: 1) Chemically dependent (CD) gamblers report more chronic medical problems than CD psychiatric patients; 2) CD gamblers report more frequent conflicts with relatives and family members than CD psychiatric patients; 3) CD gamblers report more psychiatric symptoms both in amount and duration; Although not reaching statistical significance, 42% of the CD gamblers had made a previous suicide attempt as compared to 8% of the CD psychiatric patients; 4) CD gamblers and CD psychiatric patients appear comparable with regard to employment functioning and amount of legal problems. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed further.